LiveStyle, Inc. Announces Gary Richards as President of Livestyle North America

LiveStyle, Inc. Announces Gary Richards as President of Livestyle North America

Randy Phillips, President/CEO of LiveStyle, In., has announced that Gary Richards, aka Destructo, has officially joined the company as President of LiveStyle North America.

The founder of HARD Events, who recently announced his exit from the brand and its partnership with Live Nation, just revealed his new venture with the brand behind New York’s Electric Zoo. Richards, as part of his newly created position at LiveStyle, will be responsible for working with all of LiveStyle’s current U.S. festival operations and developing and launching new brands and activities on the West Coast.

Currently, LiveStyle is responsible for many different festivals across the globe, including Sunset Music Festival, Spring Awakening, Life in Color, Defqon.1 and more. Additionally, it is the home to many major promotional companies, such as react presents and Disco Donnie Presents, along with prominent venues across North America.

Phillips stated, “When Chuck Ciongoli and I took over the former SFX, the global leader in electronic music festivals and the parent company of Beatport, we rebranded it LiveStyle to signal that a new vibrant business was emerging debt-free with some of the greatest assets in the live entertainment industry. To complete our executive suite, we wanted to bring some real authenticity to the management of LiveStyle, and no single candidate to be the President of North America fulfills this role better than Gary Richards, of HARD and Holy Ship fame. In fact, this is a delayed goal for me since I tried to make a deal with Gary 10 years ago while I was running AEG Live. Not only is he an accomplished working DJ (DJ Destructo), he is a very astute businessman with an affinity to his fellow artists. With Gary on board, LiveStyle is prepared for creative and strategic growth in the years ahead.”

“Randy Phillips has been a trailblazer in the music and entertainment industry for as long as I can remember. Having known Randy personally for many years, I’m excited that the stars have aligned and I’m able to build a new platform for live music with him. I look forward to coming on board as President of LiveStyle and have a much larger role to play in the music community. Their portfolio of brands such as React, Made Event/Electric Zoo, DDP and Beatport to name a few is an incredible place to start from and build. In addition, I plan to create new festival concepts and cruises at LiveStyle. We will continue on the path that I created with the HARD and HOLY SHIP! brands.” – Gary Richards

It will be interesting to see what Richards takes on as part of his new position and what new festivals will pop up on the West Coast as a result of the new partnership.